We are counting down to the very last days of the year. For most of us, it is a very busy time of year with the holidays and extra activities such as parties and gift-shopping and decorating and cooking. For those of us who are also executives, it brings another whole layer of activity and perhaps stress. For anyone facing the end of the Fiscal Year and/or the end of the Quarter, this is crunch time.
If one has planned properly and prepared, hopefully it is not an issue because you made your numbers and commitments weeks if not months ago. But even if you have, there is still that pressure to do even more.
So how do you deal with that? How do you get it all done? What do you compromise in order to do all that you need to do? Oftentimes, it is the very thing that will sustain us that we let go. Our routine of eating well, exercising and writing, for instance. We cut corners. We deserve to pick up takeout because we are exhausted and don’t have time. We eat the takeout and then suddenly don’t feel like working out. We become more lethargic and want to watch TV to unwind. We sleep later or have other things we must do so we skip our morning routine, the one we have worked so hard to make habit.
All of these are very normal responses to stress and added responsibilities. They also are some of the worst coping mechanisms that we can employ as far as our real goals are concerned. The lovingME way says, what does my body really need? What is going to be the best for me long term? How is this food going to affect me tomorrow or the day after? What do I really want here, in the end?
We all have lapses. We all want to and should treat ourselves from time to time. My caution is to do so with full awareness. Go into it knowing that doing X now will likely cost Y later. If you then choose to pay Y anyway, then that is great. Savor every bite, every minute, every facet of it. But if you simply go with the crowd and blindly do what others are doing, then whose life are you living? Be true to who you are not who you have been.
